Open Education Resources

 by Theresa Huff

What are Open Education Resources (OER)?

Open Education Resources (OER) are any learning materials that are free and openly licensed. This includes print or digital texts, images, videos, interactives, and other educational resources that have one of the CC licenses you learned about in the previous chapter. Depending on which CC license they contain, the OER may be used as is, remixed, improved upon, and redistributed.

Using already-created, high-quality OER can help you create instruction more efficiently. I mean, why reconstruct the wheel? If you cannot find already-created information and instruction that is openly licensed, you can always:

• Research your theory or theorist using the traditional routes and write your own content and instruction (Retain)
• Use OER as it is (Reuse)
• If you find OER that allows you to adapt it, start with that and add your own information to it (Revise)
• Use two or more OER that allow you to adapt them, and mix them together to make the content exactly what you had in mind (Remix)
• Put your own CC-license on your new content for others to use or build upon (Redistribute)

There are many examples of OER, including this very textbook, most of which is made up of OER made by other educators, scholars, or students. If you look closely, you’ll see that the images are also OER, as their caption contains a CC license in their attribution statement. Many of the H5P Interactives are also OER, whose attributions are in their metadata.

View this short video created by Abbey Elder of Iowa State University for more information on OER. 

Accessibility: Select the CC logo to turn on closed captions. Select the YouTube logo in the video player to view the video in YouTube, where a transcript is available. 

Finding OER

There are loads of places where you can find OER, but not all OER are equal. While this guidance can help you find it, you will still need to evaluate it. Read the OER you find carefully and double-check to make sure it is accurate, written for your audience, and that it’s license allows you to do what you have planned for it (use as is, revise it, remix it with other OER, etc.).

View this other short video by Abbey Elder for guidance on how to find and evaluate OER. As before, a transcript is available if you watch the video on YouTube.

Accessibility: Select the CC logo to turn on closed captions. Select the YouTube logo in the video player to view the video in YouTube, where a transcript is available. 

OER Hunt

Now that you know what OER is, how to find it, and what to watch for, it’s time for you to start hunting OER on your theory or theorist. Using the links below and keywords related to your theorist or theory, find the OER content you are hunting for on your theory or theorist for your presentation coming up in Week 4 and for your future chapter.

CC-licensed Texts

Pressbooks Directory – use the Tour the Directory button on this site’s homepage to get oriented.

Open Textbook Library – see the video above for how to search.

EdTech Books

BCCampus Open Textbooks

Wikipedia – most of the Wikipedia text is licensed under a CC license.

CC-Licensed Learning Materials (text, images, courses, etc.)

MERLOT

OER Commons – watch the video below for how to search OER Commons.

Accessibility: Select the CC logo to turn on closed captions. Select the YouTube logo in the video player to view the video in YouTube, where a transcript is available. 

CC-Licensed Media

OER can be any content that is licensed with a Creative Commons license. So, that can be images, videos, texts, etc. Remember, you’ll be creating a whole chapter on your theory or theorist, so all of these pieces may be helpful in constructing more than just chapter text.

• CC Search: A federated search tool for finding content available under a CC license
• Digital Public Library of America: Public domain images, videos, recordings, and texts
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art: High-quality open images from the Met
• Pexels: Public domain and CC-licensed photographs and stock images
• Unsplash: Public domain and CC-licensed photographs and stock images
• Wikimedia Commons: Public domain and CC-licensed images and figures
• Google Image Search: Images. Use the Tools/Usage rights button to filter by license
• Youtube: Videos. Use the Advanced Search/CC license option to see open content
• Free Music Archive: Public domain and CC-licensed music and sound byte

Having Trouble Finding OER?

OER is found in many different repositories all over the world and all over the internet. As a last effort, try Googling:

• “your theory or theorist” and “OER”
• “your theory or theorist” and “Open Education Resources”
• “your theory or theorist” and “Creative Commons”
• “the major learning theory your theory or theorist aligns with” and “OER”. Then search with that OER for your theory or theorist.

Note: If you come across quality copyrighted material on your theory or theorist as you search for OER, bookmark it for later. As you write your chapter, you can write your own sections, referencing these copyrighted pieces as you would in any academic writing.